As the IB Conference in New Orleans comes to a close, I would be remiss to leave without taking on the question of “Why IB?” As the Head of an established IB World School that offers the Diploma Programme to students in grades 11-12, I still find myself in discussions with members of our school community on this very topic. As a school leader, it is critical to remain objective and open-minded when evaluating any program to ensure that the needs of all students are best served. During my two years of closely examining the Diploma Programme as the “Head of School,” I have seen countless benefits from both a student and a systemic perspective and fully believe that the IB should at least be explored by high schools who are currently offering the more traditional “college-level” programs.

Five reasons for a school to offer (or at least consider) the IB Diploma Programme are as follows:

1) It Promotes International Mindedness:  The curriculum and pedagogy of the IB focuses on international perspectives while emphasizing the importance of having students explore their home culture and language. All IB Diploma students enroll in a core Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course and examine all core disciplines from multiple perspectives and respective “ways of knowing.” The world that students are now entering is radically different from only a few years ago as this generation will now compete for jobs and services in a global market that is fully interdependent. The IB Programme was ahead of its time from its inception and is now “taking off” due to the ever-changing demands and skills that students now need in order to succeed in college, the workforce, and beyond.

2) Connection to the Common Core (CCSS): The CCSS have now been adopted by 45 states in support of a nationwide effort to promote college and career readiness in all schools. In taking even a cursory look at the IB standards for learning, one would notice that the goals and core values of the IB are in genuine alignment with the aims and desired outcomes of the common core. In fact, the IB was one of five programs that the developers of the CCSS looked to as an example of exemplary learning standards. Both the IB and the CCSS are aligned in that both focus on inquiry, text complexity, evidence-based arguments, real-world application, and deep conceptual understanding. As such, the transition to the CCSS is a smooth one for all IB World Schools.

3) The Program is Fully Inclusive: Perhaps the greatest quality of the IB Diploma Program is that all students receive meaningful and equitable access to the curriculum. At our school, for example, all students enroll in at least one IB course with some pursuing the full IB Diploma. In addition, the qualities that are outlined in the IB Learner Profile are embedded in all classes in grades 9-12 and are central to the mission of our school. Some of the ways that the IB accomplishes this is by offering courses at both a Standard Level (SL) and a Higher Level (HL) and by using a varied and ongoing approach (internal and external) to assess student understanding. This is radically different from other “college-level” programs that assess (and score) students based exclusively on one culminating exam at the end of the course.

4) The Research is Growing: A great deal of research has been conducted by the IB and outside agencies to determine the degree to which students are prepared for success in the more competitive colleges and universities in the world. Findings repeatedly show that IB students are not only accepted at higher rates, but graduate within four years at a higher percentage and with higher overall grade point averages. As such, the “Common App” that students complete during the admissions process now has a section which asks if a student attends an IB school and whether they are candidates for the full IB Diploma. College admissions counselors have repeatedly reported to us that they actively recruit students from IB Schools due to the findings noted above.

5) The IB Community: IB teachers are members of a special community of educators from around the world. As such, teachers are able to network and collaborate with colleagues that are both local and overseas. In addition to traditional “training,” all IB teachers participate in roundtable discussions with colleagues from local schools and have access to the Online Curriculum Centre (OCC). This resource provides IB teachers with resources, updates, support areas for special education, access to online subject specialists, and an opportunity to connect with other IB teachers.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or if your school is considering the IB Diploma Programme. I have connected with many teachers and administrators over the past year on Twitter (johnfalino1) and am more than happy to help in any what that I can.

As Day 1 on the Bayou comes to a close, I have taken some time to think more closely about the the specific role of the IB Head of School and the fortunate position that I have found myself in as the Head of a successful and established Diploma Program in Westchester County, NY. Earlier this afternoon I sat in on a panel discussion (“Heads to Heads”) that was moderated by Paul Campbell (Head of Regional Development, IB Americas) and included Drew Deutsch (@drewdeutsch), Director–IB Americas. The audience included well over 100 Heads of School from around the world and the panel took questions on a host of topics ranging from professional development to the authorization process. The IB Program continues to grow worldwide with 4531 programs being offered in 3632 IB World Schools and includes a superb support network of IB Heads of School who possess a wide range of experience and expertise.

In discussing the role of the IB Head of School, one of the panelists stated that Heads must “enable, empower, and energize” all aspects of the program to the various constituencies within the immediate and larger school community. More specifically, the Head of School articulates the vision and mission of the program and possesses a long-term plan for sustainability and growth. This role is especially critical in communities that include members who are unfamiliar with the IB and “the return” for students who attend an IB school. There is a wealth of research that suggests that IB students continually outperform their peers in college and beyond. In fact, the IB is now recognized as the “gold standard” by college admissions officers from around the world. As the research continues to surface, it is essential that Heads of Schools are able to clearly communicate these findings with all members of the school community while providing leadership to ensure that students are engaged in rigorous “IB” learning experiences each and every day.

Despite the fact that my school has been authorized since 1998, we still receive questions from parents about the program and how, for example, it compares to Advanced Placement and other college-level courses. We always welcome these questions and the opportunities that they provide for us to consider what we value as a community and what we believe is best for our students. For the Head of School, communication is paramount and must happen early and often without getting on “the defensive.” After all, the IB encourages students to question and analyze all topics from a variety of perspectives and points of view. As IB Heads of School, we must invite and encourage this same behavior from all members of our school community.

An aside to Heads of School who are new to the IB: It is critical to identify a coordinator who is thorough and can effectively oversee the logistics of the program. I am beyond lucky to work alongside a person who I believe is one of the top coordinators in the world. As a result, our program runs seamlessly despite the many requirements that are imposed by the IB. There will be more on this in a later post.

Perhaps there is no better question to tackle on the first day of the IB Conference of the Americas than what it means to be “educated. ” There is no shortage of opinions with regard to this question and it is at the core of what is being discussed in the various workshops at this year’s conference here in New Orleans. It is also the driving force behind the increased push for standardization, the CCSS, and of course the new teacher evaluation systems that are being implemented in many states.

I have found that my definition of this loaded term has transformed a great deal throughout my years in education. I can vividly remember graduating from college and preparing for my first job as a middle school English teacher. I spent my college years reading as many of the “great” (and not so great) books as possible and analyzing literary theory, criticism, and devices in order to gain a better understanding of each respective piece. I had been well educated, and was ready to impart all of the knowledge that I acquired to the future students in my classes. Upon graduating, and eager to get my hands on a guide that would provide some additional insight into all that students should “know,” I picked up a copy of William Bennett’s The Educated Child. At the time, the book was a revelation and provided me with a list of additional facts that I planned to embed in my curriculum and drill into my students. And for the first few years, I did just that. I spent countless class periods lecturing about historical relevance and posing questions around  facts and details that appeared in the various texts that we studied. I fully believed that my students had left my classes having learned a great deal of information and having acquired critical knowledge that would serve them well. They had been well educated and were prepared for the future challenges of high school and beyond.

As time progressed, I was given the opportunity to move up to the high school in the same district and was fortunate to once again teach many of those same students during their junior and senior years. I had also grown a great deal as an educator over that period and my thoughts around what it meant to be “educated” had shifted dramatically. I had been a frequent attendee of ASCD conferences, was reading as many educational journals as I could get my hands on, and was helping to lead the exploration team for the implementation of the IB MYP Program in my district. My lessons and units were now guided by enduring understandings and my classroom had transformed to a space where students were exploring essential questions and engaging in higher level discussions around the “big ideas” of the texts that we were studying. During that first year at the high school, I had been discussing the importance of perspective and point of view in The Great Gatsby with one of my junior classes and casually referenced the narration of Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird. I had studied Mockingbird with many of those same students three years earlier and was sure that they would be able to recall at least some of the events from the novel. Instead, I was faced with a room full of blank stares. In fact, the students could hardly recall the names of the main characters and had absolutely no recollection of the “important” facts that I had quizzed and tested them on as eighth graders. Information such as what the children had found in the knothole of the tree and the costume that Scout wore in the final scene (she was dressed as a ham) was completely lost and forgotten.

Having changed my thinking around teaching and learning and ultimately what it means to be “educated,” I wasn’t surprised that the students had remembered very little. I had already come to the realization that English teachers are not in the business of “teaching books” and that there is so much more to be learned beyond the content in all subject areas. Included in this is the importance of thinking critically, challenging assumptions, making connections, and of course communicating effectively. The truly “educated” person is also one who can adapt to new surroundings and has the ability to learn new information quickly and as necessary. These skills, along with many others, are at the heart of the IB Learner Profile and must be embedded in all curriculum design and daily lessons. This will not only lead to better overall retention of content, but a more complete understanding of where each subject fits in the bigger picture. The good news is that the traditional “subjects” in high school provide us with a vehicle to allow students to develop these important skills. Therefore, we must continually challenge our own thinking and understanding of our respective content areas and consider how an exploration of each discipline will better prepare students to succeed in what is an ever-changing and evolving global society. It is not an easy task for one to “rethink” what has been ingrained over so many years, but it is precisely what we must challenge our students to do and is at the core of what it means to be “educated.”